Saturday, January 27, 2018

The documents will help importers and food producers in areas that include foreign supplier verification and produce safety.

Today the FDA issued five guidance documents related to FSMA with the goal of assisting food importers and producers meet provisions in the regulation.

The first two documents are related to the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) regulation. The FDA issued the draft guidance, Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals, along with a small entity compliance guide. The third draft guidance is related to whether a measure provides the same level of public health protection as the corresponding requirement in 21 CFR part 112 or the PC requirements in part 117 or 507 . “This draft guidance aims to provide a framework for determining the adequacy of a process, procedure, or other action intended to provide the same level of protection as those required under the FSMA regulations for produce and for human or animal food,” according to FDA.

The FDA also released a final chapter in the draft guidance related to FSMA requirements for hazard analysis and risk-based PCs for human food. The chapter is intended to assist food facilities in complying with the supply chain program requirements.

The fifth guidance is an announcement of the FDA’s policy to exercise enforcement discretion related to the FSVP rule regarding certain grain importers that bring the product into the United States as raw agricultural commodities. “This enforcement discretion is meant to better align the FSVP rule with the exemption for non-produce RACs under the PC rules,” stated FDA.Article Source: https://foodsafetytech.com/news_article/fda-releases-five-fsma-guidance-documents/

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

HACCP TRAINING will provide training to write a HACCP plan for Food Service and Retail Businesses to be compliant with State and Federal regulatory requirements. The 2-day training is offered on Monday, January 22 from 8 am to 5 pm and Tuesday, January 23 from 8 am to 5 pm.

The workshop is offered at Napa Valley College, and hosted by NVC in partnership with Superior Food Safety.

It is designed for food service and retail food business owners, managers, chefs, sous chefs, servers, and employees, as HACCP training may be required for operations.

Attendees will understand how to implement a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan and mitigate the risks associated with food safety incidents.

They will identify, assess, analyze and control potential hazards in a retail or food service operation and ensure safe food handling. They will understand the food flows and learn to apply the HACCP process approach to identify hazards and managerial controls for each grouping.

The cost is $500 each (1-2 participants) and $460 each (3+ participants from same company). The fee covers course materials, Certificate of Attendance, lunch both days and snack breaks.

The course is taught by Oscar Camacho, owner of Superior Food Safety and a registered FSPCA-Human Foods and HACCP Lead Instructor and Consultant. Oscar is a GFCP-Gluten Free Certification Program Consultant and Trainer, SQF Consultant and Trainer,
and a former SQF Auditor.

He has a BS in Biology and an MS in Food Science and Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in Spain. He also holds a Certification in International Management and regularly continues studies in food safety, Enterprise Risk Management, and business administration.

The course is also taught by Jocelyn Lee, whose career spans over 25 years in the food industry in restaurants, rail-transport supplier of food service serving as Executive Chef, Owner, President and Professional Food Safety Manager.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

In partnership with Superior Food Safety, Napa Valley College is hosting this timely and important workshop.

Participants in this two-day course will:
•Develop their knowledge for the successful and effective implementation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan in order to mitigate the risks associated with food safety incidents
•Gain an understanding of how to identify, assess, analyze and control potential hazards in their retail or food service operation ensuring safe food handling
•Gain a thorough understanding of the food flows in an establishment and learn to apply the HACCP process approach to identify the associated hazards and managerial controls for each grouping
•Become compliant with State and Federal regulatory requirements

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs has released the most frequently cited inspectional observations for fiscal year 2017. Among the items on the spreadsheet are food safety hazards, failure to clean, sanitation records, corrective action plan, and lack of sanitation.

“These observations, are listed on an FDA Form 483 when, in an investigator’s judgment, the observed conditions or practices indicate that an FDA-regulated product may be in violation of FDA’s requirements.” – FDA

The following are the top five (most frequent) observations.

5. Contamination: Cleaning and sanitizing operations for utensils and equipment not conducted in a manner that protects against contamination of food, food contact surfaces and food packaging materials.
4. Failure to implement HACCP plan procedures.

3. Facility not constructed in a way that enables floors, walls and ceilings to be adequately cleaned; buildings, fixtures and other physical facilities not kept in sanitary condition.

2. Sanitation monitoring: Sanitation conditions and practices not monitored with enough frequency to be in conformance with CGMP.

About Us

Superior Food Safety is based in Napa, CA and provides US and Latin American businesses with consulting and training for certification, implementation, management, and maintenance of FSMA and GFSI food safety and quality systems. Customized training is available to clients worldwide and all courses can be delivered in English or Spanish.